Just Another Day
by RavenHeart101
Summary: Witches are being hunted down, the Heavens aren't allowing anyone in or out, and demons are running rampant. The magical world needs a king, and they're looking at the Twice-Blessed. Only Wyatt Halliwell doesn't want to be King, Chris is hiding something that keeps causing them to grow apart, and Melinda's the variable that wasn't there before.
1. Chapter 1

Just Another Day

By: RavenHeart101

Summary: Witches are being hunted down, the Heavens aren't allowing anyone in or out, and demons are running rampant. The magical world needs a king, and they're looking at the Twice-Blessed. Only Wyatt Halliwell doesn't want to be King, Chris is hiding something that keeps causing them to grow apart, and Melinda's the variable that wasn't there before. Because, no matter what the future, some things are scarily determined to happen.

Disclaimer: I own nothing! But the plot. And DJ.

* * *

"They're hunting witches." It was as though a collective weight was dropped onto the entirety of Magic School, or at least on the shoulders of the people in the library. Melinda was the one who said it, her eyes grave and voice shaking with something that wasn't exactly fear. Chris tripped and then seemed to give up on getting up off the ground, resting against one of the book shelves. Prue, Patty, and Penny traded a look that spoke volumes. Henry, Hailey, and Heather held onto each other in case some sort of escape was needed. But all of them, every single one of them, looked to him for guidance.

Wyatt was the Twice-Blessed, after all. He was the "King" of magic. King Arthur reincarnated. He had to be the one to have the answer.

Only he didn't.

Sometimes – a lot of the time – his family forgot that he was just a 24 year old kid trying his hardest not to screw everything up. Again. "What do we do?" Hailey stuttered out through her fear.

No matter how young Wyatt was, he was older than Hailey (older than all of them) and it was his responsibility to make sure they would survive this. "We still have no sign of mom and the aunts?" Wyatt posed the question to Chris. Chris was always good in crisis situations – he had more of a quality for a level head (sometimes Wyatt had to remind himself that he was the older brother, and that while he was only a 24 year old kid, Chris was only a 22 year old kid and had no idea what he was doing either).

"None." Chris said softly, tugging at a loose string on his jeans. His eyes were haunted before he shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. "Bianca has feelers out. Underworld contacts are more likely to go to her than me. I'll ask around from the faery community."

Wyatt nodded and Chris orbed away. He blinked, his nod wasn't permission for Chris to just _leave_. Wyatt sighed and rubbed at his forehead. But Chris would do what Chris wanted to do, no matter what Wyatt _wanted_ him to do. If history had taught him anything it was that. "You six are going to stay here." He commanded the younger cousins.

Instantly, Prue's shoulders shot up and her eyes narrowed in a defensive glare. At nineteen years old, Prue was his oldest cousin and she was also the most stubborn. She seemed to inherit the entirety of Aunt Phoebe's stubbornness, which while sort of adorable, was all kinds of annoying when Wyatt was trying to sort things out. "No way." She shook her head through gritted teeth.

"Your parents are missing. I'm the oldest one here – the most mature _and_ the most experienced." Wyatt hated pulling rank like this. Prue opened her mouth to argue. "I'm the Twice-Blessed. You will do as I say or I'll take your powers so you have no choice _but_ to stay here."

Prue deflated with a glaring pout, her arms crossed over her chest and her brown eyes – so much like her mother's – watering just a tiny bit. This was hard on them, Wyatt knew. Prue had to take over as "mother" to both her sisters now that Phoebe was stuck Up There.

No one knew what had caused the Elders to close Up There, but people weren't allowed in or out of the Heavens and they hadn't been allowed in or out for three weeks. Then the witch hunts started happening and executions and they were all scrambling for some sort of purchase on the ground that kept moving beneath their feet. Wyatt wasn't an idiot, he knew the looks Chris kept sending him were something he should pay more attention to. He knew Melinda was struggling to hold herself together when she could hear the worry that went through everyone's minds. He knew Melinda knew what Chris' problem was, too. His brother stuck by his side most days, didn't argue, didn't push, didn't ask Wyatt to fix anything. It was like Chris was afraid that if he did something terrible would happen.

Their link had been shut down for a while, too. For almost as long as the Charmed Ones were gone, Chris had been shutting him out. Leo told him not to worry about it, and that Chris had things of his own that he needed to figure out. But Wyatt knew that look on Chris's face was fear – he didn't need an empathetic link with his little brother to know that.

"Mel, you're with me." He held out his hand and Melinda took it in her own instantly. She never tried to read his thoughts, something about breaching privacy, but Melinda was ridiculously good at reading people anyway. She trusted him with her life, to a level that his parents didn't. She never treated him like one bad move could send him over some invisible edge (like Chris did). She was his baby sister, and where Wyatt protected her, she extended the same courtesy.

"Where are we going?" She asked curiously, shaking her chocolate hair out of her eyes.

Wyatt looked down at her and held onto her hand tighter. "The manor."

The manor. Wyatt hadn't called the manor "home" since he had moved in with DJ. Their tiny apartment was more "home" to Wyatt than he thought he could feel. He liked walking into their living room to DJ's school papers laid out on the table. He liked waking up in the morning to fresh coffee and bowls of cereal and, sometimes, not getting out of bed at all because they both had the day off and didn't want to face the day. He liked how small it was, how entirely un-grandeur it all was, how _good_ it felt.

But Wyatt wasn't bringing Melinda to his home, he was bringing her to her home. The manor had the Book of Shadows and most everything else they could need. He tried to keep that stuff out of the apartment with DJ (he didn't want to put him in more danger than he already was in just by dating him). "Do you think we'll find anything?" Melinda asked just before they dissolved into blue and white balls of light and traveled away.

Orbing felt a lot like swimming – or at least for Wyatt it did. He knew for Chris it felt different, and he knew that shimmering felt more like burning up every atom of his body until he became ash. But orbing felt like swimming to him. Like he was dropped into the clearest blue water and had to find his way back to land before he ran out of air.

Melinda said she liked orbing with him more than orbing with Chris. Chris's orbs were still nice, not painful or anything like that, but they were heavier. "Probably not." Wyatt admitted with a long suffering sigh once they were fully formed again. Melinda wandered over to the Book, opening it with careful fingers and trailing her eyes down the page.

Wyatt, himself, dropped down into one of the arm chairs – ratty with age but still endlessly comfortable – and pushed his fingers through his hair. It was getting longer and he was in terrible need of a haircut (and he needed to shave, he was starting to get a beard). "We could try to summon my namesake." Melinda said with a bit of a smirk at the corner of her mouth. She was joking, but then again she wasn't joking. It was possible that the first Melinda Halliwell might know a little bit about hiding the fact that you were a family of witches from witch hunters.

Witch hunters. Who would have thought?

Contrary to belief, it was not the Halliwell family that let it slip that magic was real. It had been some kid that had been adopted and started showing powers early on. At first the parents had thought she was possessed, but bringing her to a church had been a bad idea. She hadn't attacked anyone – her powers were mostly defensive not offensive – but she had lost control when she tired and caused a minor fire to start in the baptismal pool. It had gone out the moment she fully woke up. Some parishioner had caught it on camera, put it online, it went viral, and then more and more kept popping up. The government had to step in, they said. People with these sorts of powers were a genetic advantage.

They weren't necessarily executed. They were found by the government, tested on, tortured, forced to use their powers until the magic snapped and killed someone.

_Then_ they were executed.

It was all over the news. There were social media sites dedicated to it. There was activists for both sides and the demons were soaking it up. What better but to attack witches out in the open where they can't protect themselves without signing up for another death sentence? "Summoning spirits doesn't work." Wyatt shook his head and rubbed at his neck. "If the Elders have shut down the heavens, there's no way a spirit can find its way down here to counsel us."

Melinda's hair fell into her face and she looked at him through the strands with a frown. "Then why come here?"

Wyatt shrugged and stretched his arms above his head, rolling his neck to get out an invisible kink. "I couldn't stay there."

Melinda looked like she understood – Melinda always understood – but still she sighed and her shoulders drooped. "What are we supposed to do, Wy?"

She was his baby sister, though. Nineteen years old and more lost than he was. But Melinda had a power that could be hidden. Telepathy wasn't something that could easily be shown to the public, after all. She knew how to defend herself and she could brew potions like no one else, but whereas Wyatt had a slew of powers and Chris could use Wyatt's as he saw fit, Melinda only had her telepathy. And as long as the Elders had shut down the heavens there was no way she was going to get anything else. She had all the makings of a powerful witch, with about half the confidence, but she wasn't quite old enough to inherit more powers.

Which Wyatt was happy about - at least for the time that there were people looking to hunt down witches. It wouldn't be good to have Melinda out there with powers she couldn't control.

Even Melinda looked at Wyatt for a plan of action, though. This must have been how Piper felt when Aunt Prue died and she inherited the title of Halliwell Matriarch. "We'll wait to see if Chris turns up any new leads, keep the cousins at Magic School, they're safer there than out on the streets." Especially since Henry still hadn't gotten a hold on his orbing and would accidentally orb to China if he sneezed. "Keep an eye out for any witches that need sanctuary. We'll offer it to them there. Put up a protection spell on the Manor and I'm going to have to make Chris put one up on his place."

That was all he could think about for the moment. Wyatt cared about the innocents out on the street – he cared about the other witches being executed and tortured – but he cared most about keeping his family safe. He had to put a leash on his own powers. Not for the first time, Wyatt was very thankful that Piper and Leo made him get his driver's license like everyone else. "And then what?" Melinda asked softly, playing with a corner of the Book. "They're going to want a leader, Wyatt. They're going to need one."

"I'm not a king." Wyatt snapped before he could stop himself. "They can save themselves." Melinda looked at him curiously, her eyes sad for a moment before brightening again.

"Maybe Chris will be their king." She winked.

Wyatt couldn't help the laugh that passed from his lips. "He always did have a talent of rallying people."

"Don't tell him that." Melinda cautioned. "It'll go right to his ego."

"Who are we talking about?" Chris appeared in the doorway, leaning casually against the wood, his green eyes on Wyatt like he expected him to pounce.

"Not you, don't worry."

"Liar."

Wyatt smirked and shrugged, pushing himself to his feet. Chris's worried look disappeared and a lopsided smile appeared instead. "Mel," He turned to their sister, allowing a soft caress of his mind against Wyatt's through the link. Prying for something, but Wyatt wasn't sure what he was looking for. Why he couldn't just ask was beyond him, but Chris had always been more than a little bit eccentric. "Do you think you could come up with a powerful protection spell?"

"I've been working on a boundary potion for months, Chris." She rolled her eyes. "I think a protection spell is something I've already mastered."

Chris sighed as though she was the most annoying creature on all of the earth – which, to Chris, she was most of the time. The joy of siblings. Their constant bickering was something that annoyed Wyatt, but Chris and Melinda were fiercely protective of one another. "Mel, please work on the spell." Wyatt interrupted before Chris could escalate things. "Chris, kitchen." He ordered with a wave of his hand.

"I thought you weren't king?" Melinda teased.

"I'm your oldest brother," Wyatt crossed the room to ruffle her hair a little bit. "I'm allowed to boss you around."

"No you're not." Chris insisted.

"Kitchen, Chris."

"You're really bossy."

"I've had a really bad month." Wyatt reminded him in the hallway. "I'm allowed to be bossy."

"I guess." The rest of the trek down the stairs was silent, Leo was at Magic School, trying to keep as many students from disappearing as he could with the rest of the teachers. "They will expect you to lead them, you know." Chris said softly, hopping onto the island counter, his long legs hanging off the edge and kicking out at the air. His hair flopped into his face and he toyed with his fingers.

"I don't want to lead." Wyatt could admit that to anyone that asked. He had no qualms about telling anyone that Chris was the better leader out of the two of them. Melinda knew, Chris knew, Piper and Leo knew… Wyatt would try his hardest, but sometimes leading and having this large destiny was enough to press him into the ground until he couldn't move.

But sometimes Wyatt thought it was only Chris that understood that Wyatt didn't want to lead. He specifically turned down management jobs when offered to him because he didn't want to add on that responsibility. DJ's name was on the lease for their apartment because Wyatt would forget to pay the rent if it was in his. Wyatt was no good at leading. Piper told him that he just hadn't found the right thing to lead yet, seeming to overlook that Wyatt just simply never _wanted_ to lead. Destiny was rude to throw that onto him.

"I know." Chris picked at the corner of his thumb nail. "But I don't think you have much of a choice."

"Will you have my back?" It was supposed to be a simple question. Wyatt and Chris always had each other's backs. But Chris tensed like the question was harder than he thought it would be. Wyatt felt like there was a great distance between the two of them, and that with each passing day they went in different directions. Chris was holding him as far away as he could without damaging their relationship beyond repair. He was afraid of something but he wouldn't tell Wyatt what. Either way, Wyatt wasn't sure how to phrase the question. _Hey Chris, I noticed you seemed quite terrified of me and it hurts and can you please explain _didn't seem like the right way to ask.

Chris didn't pause for long but the fact that he did pause caused Wyatt to worry that they were growing a lot farther apart than he thought they were. He didn't want to grow apart from Chris. He wished he would tell him what was going on. But Chris wasn't one to explain himself, wasn't one to talk about his feelings or his thoughts. He'd lay it out in the open when he was ready – or when he wasn't ready and it would be a mess of _"I should have told you_" that would leave Wyatt scrambling to understand the way his brother thought. Chris's mind was complicated and terrifying sometimes and Wyatt loved him but sometimes he thought that he really hated him.

"Of course, Wy." Chris licked his lips. "I'll always have your back." His eyes didn't meet Wyatt's, though, so he knew, with an ache in his heart, that that wasn't necessarily true. Chris was noble and strong and if he left Wyatt wasn't sure what he would do. His brother was someone that always believed in him, even when Wyatt didn't believe in himself. Wyatt wasn't so sure if he could trust him for that anymore. It seemed most days that Chris didn't even trust himself.

What happened? Wyatt couldn't ask. He didn't want to start a fight.

"I have to call DJ." Wyatt pulled his phone from his back pocket, toying with the case and trying to ignore how his throat burned from tears.

"I'll start on dinner?"

"Don't bother." Wyatt shrugged and Chris looked, for a moment, remorseful – like he knew he screwed up somewhere but was at a loss at how to fix it. "Today's date night."

"You still have those when the world is ending?"

"The world isn't ending." Wyatt pressed the speed dial 3. Chris was 1, Piper was 2, and Melinda was 4. "We're just in a complicated mess."

"Just another day, huh?"

"Just another day."


	2. Chapter 2

Just Another Day

By: RavenHeart101

Summary: Witches are being hunted down, the Heavens aren't allowing anyone in or out, and demons are running rampant. The magical world needs a king, and they're looking at the Twice-Blessed. Only Wyatt Halliwell doesn't want to be King, Chris is hiding something that keeps causing them to grow apart, and Melinda's the variable that wasn't there before. Because, no matter what the future, some things are scarily determined to happen.

Disclaimer: I own nothing! But the plot. And DJ.

* * *

Melinda was there when the government starting rounding the witches up for execution. Her boss – the owner of a small spice shop – was the second witch to be arrested in the California area. Cora Kesler was a woman of 52 years old, kind, and wise beyond her years.

The arrest of the first witch was televised all over the world. It had been filmed by the woman's neighbor and was shown on all the news stations. Press coverage was huge throughout the trial and subsequent execution. More than half the public still thought that it was nothing more than an elaborate hoax put out to publicize a movie. The magic world thought it was something that, if they ignored it, would go away. Melinda even thought that way herself at first.

But then the police came barging in with weapons drawn and bulky riot uniforms on. A woman was marching in the middle of them, a long coat flowing around her ankles and an ugly scowl on her otherwise pretty face. "Cora Kesler," She said in a stern, angry voice thick with a southern accent. "You're under arrest for the crime of witchcraft."

Cora didn't put up a fight, even though Melinda could hear her frantic cries for help in her mind. But Melinda wasn't her brothers. She didn't have reality bending powers like Wyatt, nor did she have the ability to use those powers whenever she wanted to like Chris. She was little Melinda Halliwell who only had the power of telepathy in her back pocket. And she barely knew how to control that.

Cora's eyes moved to her and even though there was begging in them, there was also a firm shake of her head. _No_, Melinda heard her project to her. _Don't stop them. Stay hidden, close up the shop, and get me a lawyer_. Her voice was stronger than her expression and Melinda let out a long breath before nodding. She ducked under the window in the stock room and took the stairs leading to the basement two at a time. There was a little hidden doorway in there that only a witch could open and Melinda needed to get to it before the police got to her.

She remembered what she learned about in school – anyone who was even associated with the witch during the Salem Witch Trials was under scrutiny. If Melinda was caught by the police there was no telling what they would do to her for even being in the same shop as Cora.

Bottles rattled on the walls as she scrambled passed. Melinda dropped to her knees by the far left corner, her fingertips trailing over the stone wall and her eyes glancing over her shoulder as footsteps grew louder. They were almost at the stock room now.

"Oh come on," She hissed under her breath. "_Please_ open, magical door." Melinda was near whimpering now.

Her finger found a groove in the wall, a stone pushed in, and a door slid open. "Oh thank the Goddess." Melinda didn't think twice before scrambling inside on her knees, the door sliding shut soundlessly behind her.

On the walls torches hung, and they lit up with flame not a moment after the door closed. The walls were lined with books and potions, little clear glass bottles filled up to their stoppers with blue, green, yellow, purple, pink, red – every possible color. There were protection sigils painted on the walls, some carved into the stone. The air felt lighter down here – less heavy and oppressive. Less worrisome. It was like the problems from the outside world ceased to be problems in this tiny haven.

If only that were true, though. Melinda couldn't do much, but as she slid her phone out of her back pocket she saw she had full reception.

DJ might not be a lawyer yet, but he was a student and he could still give her legal advice.

* * *

Darryl had worked with the Halliwells for close on six years before he had deemed them too dangerous. Did that mean that Sheila stopped bringing Junior over their house for playdates? Absolutely not. It really shouldn't have surprised him to hear from Junior that he was moving in with Wyatt Halliwell. Or that they were dating. But it did.

Darryl had nothing wrong with his son liking boys – power to him. Wyatt was a nice enough boy. He never caused any trouble, never treated Junior like he was anything less than perfection. But Wyatt was a Halliwell and that made him dangerous in a lot of ways that Darryl was absolutely sure that Junior knew nothing about.

Still, Sheila dragged him along to their apartment for dinner once every week or so. Sometimes Wyatt wasn't there – busy with an internship at a hospital or with some magical crisis, Darryl didn't care. He liked the days Wyatt wasn't there the most – and sometimes he was. Whenever he was there the dinners always had a little bit more _something_ than usual. Maybe it was because Piper had made sure to teach each of her kids how to survive in a kitchen, or maybe it was the presence the blonde boy had. Either way, every time Darryl looked at him he couldn't help remembering who he was.

What he was.

And he remembered that neurotic lanky kid that traveled all the way from the future to stop him from turning evil. Darryl may not be the biggest fan of the Halliwells but the kid that smiled at him from pictures on Junior's facebook profile didn't seem like someone who would be the Supreme Ruler of the Earth anytime soon.

That didn't mean that Darryl liked him, though.

"Dad," Junior's voice held humor in it, but also a twinge of annoyance. "Stop it."

Darryl almost asked him to stop what but then he realized, belatedly, that he had been glaring at Wyatt with a force that wasn't even necessary. Thankfully, the young man seemed too absorbed in his own thoughts to even notice the building falling down around him. Otherwise Darryl was pretty sure he would have had to come up with some terrible excuse. "Sorry," He muttered and Junior perched himself on the arm of the chair Wyatt sat in.

"What's got you thinking so hard?" Junior asked and ran his hand through Wyatt's dark blonde hair. He startled the other man, enough so that he jumped and blinked out whatever trance he was in. Junior just smiled. Darryl was only a tidbit worried (his quarrel was with the Halliwell sisters, not his son's boyfriend – he's had to tell himself that for almost four years). Sheila pulled off concern a lot better than he did.

"Nothing just…" Wyatt glanced at him and Darryl knew. The witch hunts, trials, executions. They were on Darryl's mind a lot lately too. He didn't think it was right to do such things to human beings, regardless of whether they had magic powers or not. His problem was with a specific group of witches, not for the people as a whole. And the demons. Darryl had seen enough of them in his lifetime to know they were making things difficult.

He hadn't seen anything to suggest that the Halliwell family were specifically in trouble, though. Not that he would have erased anything or shredded any files to save them, but the kids couldn't help who their parents were.

Darryl was tense around Wyatt Halliwell, however. The kid was powerful. Scary powerful. And he had turned evil once before – what was to stop him from turning evil again? Darryl didn't believe in that whole "changing the future" crap. You couldn't change the future. It was called the future for a reason. "I have to go give Chris a call." Wyatt finished as Sheila opened her mouth to say something.

She cut herself off with a skeptical frown and Junior's hand trailed over Wyatt's back as he walked into their bedroom for some privacy. He looked worried, but he hid it well. Junior was Darryl's only son, though. Darryl knew him like the back of his hand. "What's going on, Junior?" Sheila asked before Darryl could. "Everything okay there?"

Junior scratched at his neck (a nervous tick he had had since he was five) and looked anywhere but at his mother for a moment. Coming up with a story, no doubt. Darryl wasn't sure _why_ – Sheila had gotten clued in on the magic stuff years ago and Darryl knew that Junior had been told. Or shown. He couldn't ever really be sure since Junior had spent so much time with the Halliwells when he was growing up. If there had ever been a demon attack, though, Junior had never told him. "Piper hasn't been home in a while." Junior decided on. "Wyatt's just being the overprotective big brother."

"How long has Piper been gone?" Darryl latched onto that first, leaning forward and placing half full bottle of beer on the table next to him.

"Not that long." Junior tried to reassure, waving his hand like it didn't matter.

"Darryl Junior." Sheila cautioned with a narrowed gaze.

"Two months." Junior winced. "Give or take a few days."

Darryl was shocked and Sheila instantly surged to her feet to follow Wyatt into the bedroom. "Mom, stop." Junior begged her. "Wyatt just has a lot on his plate right now."

Darryl could see that. If Piper was missing than chances were Phoebe and Paige were gone too. That left Wyatt, for the most part, in charge of eight magical kids and Wyatt was practically an adult himself. With the witch hunts going on things must have been doubly stressful. And he was just a kid. Not much younger than Junior. "He'll be okay." Darryl said even if he was sure it was the total opposite.

"Yeah." Junior agreed. "He _will be_." His eyes held a little bit of a glare when they looked at Darryl. Like he needed to protect Wyatt from him. Junior should be worried about himself. Should be worried about Darryl and not Wyatt.

"I feel like we're stuck in the dark ages," Sheila dragged the attention back to her, the tension between father and son tangible in the air. "Who would have thought we'd go around killing people for _witch_craft?"

"People do stupid things when they're scared," Junior pointed out with an exhausted shrug, dropping himself into the seat Wyatt had sat not too long ago.

"The people they're arresting aren't even bad people." Sheila shook her head and sipped her wine. "They're not even the ones going out harming others."

"The police can't exactly arrest a demon, mom." Junior rolled his eyes and Darryl watched as they almost instantly latched onto the figure in the doorway. Wyatt shook his head and Junior frowned. Darryl, not for the first time, was amazed at the way the two of them seemed to be able to communicate without words. The last time Darryl had seen that was with… well with Wyatt and Chris and those two had some weird sort of link that Darryl didn't even pretend to understand. "Why isn't he answering?"

Wyatt shrugged. "My money's on Bianca."

"Who's Bianca?" Darryl asked in curious confusion.

"Girlfriend." Junior.

"Poison." Wyatt.

Well, if Darryl ever doubted the over-protective-brother act Wyatt would have just sold it.

* * *

Chris was, in fact, not with Bianca, but rather with his sister. Contrary to what Wyatt and everyone else believed, Chris and Melinda _could_ get along. Chris would stop the world for Melinda, even if half the time he wanted to do nothing else but throw her _off_ it.

In an effort to keep up images Chris had picked Melinda up from her classes at the local college campus after making sure that Bianca got to work okay. Also contrary to popular belief, Bianca wasn't _actually_ the trouble maker between the two of them, even if she _was_ the assassin. It was always Chris's idea to go into the Underworld. Always his idea to make alliances where he could with who he could. His idea to befriend the witches starting the uprising.

Chris had his reasons, Bianca just never asked for an explanation.

"Wyatt's calling you again." Melinda tapped the corner of his phone and Chris winced even as he pressed the ignore button. "Are you two fighting?" She asked even though she would know it if they were.

"It's… complicated." Chris signaled for a left turn.

"When isn't it with you?" Melinda huffed and rolled her eyes. "What is it this time?"

Chris shrugged wordlessly. He couldn't very well tell Melinda what the problem was. Melinda had a way of making things seem like they weren't actually a problem. Chris knew she had an inkling of what he was keeping from Wyatt, but he also knew that she wouldn't force him to tell her anything and neither would she read his mind. Melinda had morals and standards when it came to her powers. It was nice, Chris had to admit. "Typical stuff."

"You haven't been sleeping." Melinda pointed out. "Nightmares again?" The last time Chris had nightmares it had been when he had turned fourteen (the day he turned fourteen) and he had almost caused the whole house to fall down because his powers went haywire. If Wyatt didn't have such good control over his own powers and the link it probably would have ended ten times worse than it did.

"No," Because Chris wasn't having nightmares. He had nightmares a month ago, but those ended rather abruptly in his death and now… well now Chris was a little bit unsure of what to do.

Or, rather, a lot unsure of what to do. But while he trusted Melinda with his life he couldn't trust her with this. What was he supposed to say? 'Hey Mel, you know those nightmares that I used to have? Yeah well in them our big lug of a brother is evil and you don't even exist! How cool, right?!' No… Chris wouldn't say a thing to her. "Bianca keeping you up all night?" She asked dryly and Chris gave her a side-eye that made her wrinkle her nose. "Ew, tmi."

"You're the one that said it."

"You're Chris. You don't actually have a sex life."

"You don't have a sex life."

"I might be the little sister but that doesn't mean I don't get up to my own fun."

"Now you're saying a little too much."

"That's what you get," Melinda stuck out her tongue at him like the nineteen year old she was and Chris laughed despite himself.

Melinda really was a beautiful girl, it didn't really surprise him that she wasn't a virgin. She was the perfect mix of Piper and Leo, brown hair that lightened in the sun and curled just a little bit around the edges. She had a young face, full lips, brown eyes, tiny nose. She was short like their mother but had the kind personality of their father. Chris looked like a spitting image of Piper and Prue and Wyatt looked like Leo and a bit like their grandmother Patty. Chris always thought that Melinda was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, even while he was dating Bianca and thought she was gorgeous. Melinda was beautiful on both the inside and outside, and that was a hard combination to come by. "Do you ever worry?" Chris asked softly, putting the car in park and staring up at the Manor with a wistful look on his face.

"About what?" Melinda bent down to pick up her backpack from where it rested by her feet.

"That you did something and it didn't work."

Melinda frowned and touched his arm with her hand, gentle and worried. "Chris," She bit at her lip before leaning closer to wrap him in a hug. He locked his arms around her slender waist and held her tightly for a moment before letting her draw back. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing, Mel." He waved off her concern.

"Please," She begged. "Let me help you."

"Mel-"

"Don't shut us out." Her brown eyes were warm when they met his. "Wyatt needs you as much as you need him. Whatever you're trying to fix isn't going to work if you don't talk to us."

"I'm not trying to fix anything." Chris assured. "I already fixed it, I think. I'm just…."

"Worrying us." Melinda sighed. "Chris, please. Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong." He leaned closer to kiss her cheek. "Tell Dad I said hi. And if Mom-"

Melinda was already out of the car, though, stomping up the steps angrily. Chris knew shutting them out wasn't solving anything, but he couldn't think of anything else to do. Letting Melinda in would be hard, it might break that wonderful relationship she had with Wyatt. Chris couldn't let Wyatt know, either. He couldn't tell anyone. It was his cross to bear and his alone.

Although he wasn't alone, he reminded himself. He had Bianca. He had Leo. He had his grandfather, Victor. He wished he had Piper, though. She always made these easier to sort out. How could he explain to his sister and brother that he wasn't sure, sometimes, who was staring at him through the mirror – the war veteran or the college student?

His phone vibrated in the cup holder and he turned the keys to turn the car off with a loud sigh. He couldn't very well run forever, and he didn't like leaving with Melinda angry at him. He'd invite Wyatt and DJ over, have Bianca stop by after work, and the group of them could have a movie night. Bianca needed more friends and Wyatt would have to learn sometime that she wasn't going anywhere. It was like that engagement ring on her finger meant that Wyatt had to hate her more.

"Hello?" Chris answered before Wyatt could give up again.

He heard his brother let out a relieved sigh. "You couldn't have answered sooner?" Wyatt asked in a broken voice.

Chris winced. "Sorry, I was picking Mel up from school."

It was lame excuse. If he was picking Melinda up than he could have had her answer the phone and put it on speaker. He could have fired off a quick thought telling Wyatt that he'd call him back. Chris had been leaving him high and dry for a long time now. What a shitty brother he was. "I was just worried." Wyatt perked up after a moment. "I found a leprechaun in my bathroom today."

Chris snorted and opened the car door, maneuvering himself out of the opening and closing the door with his elbow. "Is that some sort of euphemism?"

"Ew, why do you always go there?"

"You leave yourself wide open for it." Chris barely remembered to open the door with his hand and he closed it with the heel of his shoe. He tossed his keys in the bowl by the door and struggled out of his sneakers. "What did the leprechaun want?"

"My power." Wyatt sighed and Chris heard him drop down onto his bed. "With the heavens shut off they're running out of luck to hand out."

"How ironic."

"You're telling me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'm not good at this diplomatic stuff." Wyatt muttered. "I'm not good at any of this stuff."

"You're better at it than you think." Chris sighed. "Listen, why don't you and DJ come over to the Manor for dinner tonight and we'll try to think something up?"

"How about desert?" Wyatt bargained. "DJ's parents are here for dinner tonight."

"See you then."

"See you."

It was good, Chris thought, that Wyatt didn't get insulted very easily when it came to Chris ignoring him. He supposed he was used to it. And if that didn't say a lot about Chris he didn't know what did.


End file.
